


Gilbert Blythe's One Man Book Club

by rainbowshirbert



Series: Buried Hopes (AnnE Oneshots) [11]
Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Post S3, Shirbert, it's like a time jump thing idk, pre S3, shirbert fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26281531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowshirbert/pseuds/rainbowshirbert
Summary: Anne Shirley Cuthbert loves books, and Gilbert Blythe loves Anne, so he reads her favorite books, which is a lot more work than he may have thought.Part 1 set between S2/3, Part 2 set after S3 with them dating
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe & Mary Lacroix, Gilbert Blythe & Sebastian "Bash" Lacroix, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Series: Buried Hopes (AnnE Oneshots) [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684312
Comments: 14
Kudos: 141





	1. 1898

**Author's Note:**

> this is dedicated to the gbsgc because i got this idea while screaming at them about shirbert. they're also the reason this is a two-shot lol
> 
> also italics didn't transfer but it's really early in the morning and i need to go to bed so sorry the book titles aren't in italics lol

“You spelled ‘concerning’ wrong,” Anne said, underlining thickly a word on Gilbert’s paper. He looked over and realized he had, in fact, added an extra c.

He looked back down at Anne’s essay, sinking into the chair at his kitchen table. If he were being completely honest, there were probably a few issues with some wording here or there, but he and Anne had only just started getting along since Bash and Mary’s wedding, and he sure wasn’t going to mess it up.

He cautiously circled the use of a contraction when she wasn’t looking and crossed out a few “very”s (she used that word quite a bit), then put down his pencil.

Anne looked at him, her finger still on the middle of his first page. “You can’t be done already.”

“I didn’t need to edit it.”

“If I get a bad grade because you were too lazy to edit my essay, I will refuse to speak to you ever again.”

Gilbert smiled and shook his head, crossing out all the mistakes he’d tried to ignore hours before. “If that’s what you want.”

“Whoever gets the most words spelled wrong has to cook the other one bisquets.”

“Bash teases me so much on my cooking I would expect you not want to try anything I make.”

Anne considered his words for a few seconds. “Fine. The person who has the least incorrect words gets to talk for five minutes without being interrupted.”

“About anything?’

“Yes. You can talk with all your special doctor words that I’m pretty sure you’re making up.”

Gilbert smirked at the paper, circling a misspelled “exquisite”. “They’re not made up. You just haven’t learned them yet.”

“My vocabulary is far more extensive than yours.”

“I was led to believe we’re evenly matched.”

“I’ll always be one step ahead of you. For instance, you spelled three words long in just one line,” Anne said with a satisfied hum, holding up his paper for proof.

Gilbert furiously concentrated on Anne’s essay once again, reading each word twice, and then another time just to make sure. Once when her chair made a scratching sound against the floor five minutes later did he look up.

Mary had walked into the Blythe-Lacroix kitchen, holding her pregnant stomach with one hand. “Oh, hello Anne. Are you two studying?”

“Gilbert and I have an essay due on the use of language in the news. We thought, since we’re the top students in the class, it’d be beneficial to proofread each other’s work.”

“She’s very excited to prove that she spells many more words wrong than me,” Gilbert added, and Anne gave him a swift, scalding look.

Mary laughed. “Well, have fun, you two. And Gilbert, I’ve read your papers before. You always use the wrong ‘to’.”

Gilbert rolled his eyes and looked back at the paper. “You and Bash always take her side.”

“It’s because we like her better. She doesn’t sing in her sleep.”

He flushed and continued to circle letters as Mary laughed out of the room.

There was silence between the two of them once again, only the scratching of pen and ink and a reminder that Anne was close to Gilbert, probably too close for a girl and boy to be under any other circumstances. He could hear her steady breathing and almost feel the space between her thigh and his. But then he remember he was a man on a mission and continued searching hopelessly for just another misspelled word.

Anne had flipped through his paper at least twenty times before she shoved the sheets toward him. “I just counted. Seventeen.”

Gilbert hopelessly counted through her mistakes, putting his index finger on each word and mumbling under his breath the number. “Fourteen, fifteen-” his anticipation grew as he flipped to the last paper, where only three lines were written. Then his stomach plummeted as he put his finger on the one lonely circle. “Sixteen.”

Anne’s face quickly split into a grin and she tugged her essay from him.

“No, let me count again,” he said, pulling it back towards him.

“No, I won! Five minutes without a single word from Gilbert Blythe’s mouth! What a delight. Oh, where to start?”

“Your time starts now,” Gilbert said, grumpily slouching as Anne stood up and twirled around once, just enough that the bottom of her dress flew out like a fan, or petals on a flower on a breezy day.

She smiled, pushing her braids on top of her shoulders. “Alright, alright. Well, I suppose I could start with the book I’ve been reading with Jerry. It’s Frankenstein, and he’s progressed surprisingly well with his reading. He even reads it aloud to Matthew, though it is a bit slow. It really is a beautiful concept, about the inner monster in all of us, I believe…” she went on to talk about the book’s themes and characters and beautiful language, admitting even she would never be able to craft a book so brilliant.

Gilbert watched, slowly lifting himself from his slouched position and watching with interest as Anne’s hands flew around, her braids flopping as she bounced in place, in times reenacting a scene and her face scrunching from anger to desperation in just a few seconds.

He was completely enraptured with the whole performance, the sound of her voice filling his ears and his soul and being the only thing he was truly aware of in the moment. A smile worked onto his lips without his knowledge, and finally Anne paused, smiling with satisfaction, her chest heaving from the effort of fitting so many beautiful words into one sentence.

“And then I’m rereading Pride and Prejudice. It’s one of the most romantic books ever created in my strong and completely indisputable opinion. I would love to be Elizabeth Bennet, so headstrong and willing to reject multiple men until she could understand herself completely and truly.”

Gilbert was broken out of his trance. Rejecting proposals? “Wh-”

As Anne saw his mouth open, she leaped, up, screaming, “Five minutes!” And Gilbert was forced to concede, keeping his mouth shut and listening to every word.

“Disregarding your rude interruption, Elizabeth comes to understand that she judged Darcy unfairly, and everyone for that matter, when she first met them, because her ego was bruised. And only then could she find true happiness. It may be my favorite moment from any book that isn’t Jane Eyre, which is my absolute favorite book of all time. Her family is so entertaining, obsessed with their reputation while they have such a...overbearing mother. She really is nothing like Marilla, Mrs. Bennet. Though they are stern in different ways.”

Gilbert watched as she continued her spiel on the family relationships and dynamics, how Mr. Wickham was a foul man, then finally came to a stop and looked at him with curious eyes. “Gilbert?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Huh?”

“It’s been over five minutes. You can talk now.”

He stared at her for a second. “Oh, right. Right. Um-” He grabbed his papers from the desk. “Thank you, I’m sure Miss Stacey will love your essay.”

Anne took her writing from him with a dazed look. “Okay. Thanks, um, thank you as well.”

She hovered there for a second, looking between her essay and at him, then rushing quickly towards the door. “Bye!”

Gilbert watching her rush through the yard and toward the road. Then he grabbed a pen and made a note to himself.

In Charlottetown Get:  
-Frankenstein  
-Pride and Prejudice  
-Jane Eyre

*******

“Blythe, what’s with all these books?” Bash called. “Is that teacher of yours overworking you?”

Gilbert walked in from the front room to the kitchen, where Bash was distastefully flipping through the pages to Jane Eyre.

“No, those are just for fun,” Gilbert said, quickly grabbing them to his chest.

“That doesn’t look like fun to me. And I thought all you read were those big medical textbooks.”

“I could use a break every once in a while.”

Bash looked at him for a second and then shrugged. “Well, as long as you still help me pick the apples, you can read all the books in the world.”

“No worries.” Gilbert sprinted up the stairs before Bash could question him further, crashing open the door to his room.

It was still a mess from before he’d left for Charlottetown to work at Dr. Ward’s, his bed unmade and sun shining brightly through the windows. He sighed and put the books on his dresser watching the front yard.

He almost wished a red-headed girl would come running toward the front porch, but then hit himself in the forehead.

“Stupid, stupid,” he told himself. He’d just seen Anne two days ago, and she would definitely get sick of him if he tried to see her again before school on Monday.

He looked back at the books, fingers grazing their polished spines. He wasn’t sure which one to pick up first. She’d said Jane Eyre was her favorite...or was it Jane Austen? 

Why had he gone out and bought these books, anyway?

But he grabbed Pride and Prejudice without thinking about it any longer and collapsed onto his bed. Anne had seemed to like that Darcy character. Not that he cared what she liked. Or that she hinted she wanted a Darcy to her Elizabeth Bennet.

He absorbed himself into the story before he could let himself think a second longer.

*******  
Gilbert finished Pride and Prejudice in a day. The other two books were consumed within the next week.

Needless to say, he was pretty confident walking into school after completing Jane Eyre. If Anne could talk for over what was probably more like ten minutes without any interruptions about these books, she could definitely have a solid minute of conversation with Gilbert over them.

When he walked in, a bit earlier than usual, Miss Stacey still hadn’t arrived. He sat at his desk and wondered if he should have brought the books. No, that was stupid, and people would talk. But he’d tabbed all his favorite parts of each one, maybe (absolutely) in hopes he could discuss them in length with Anne.

By the time Miss Stacey arrived, most of his classmates were trickling in.

“I’m so sorry,” she told Gilbert, running in. “I had some trouble with my bike.”

“It’s alright,” he said, and she smiled apologetically one last time before walking to the front of the class.

“I’ve graded all of your essays finally, and I’m proud to say they were all a major improvement to last time. Many less misspellings,” she added, and Gilbert sneaked a glance at Anne, to see her looking at him too. Both their heads jerked back to the front of the room, but Gilbert had to bite his lip to keep from smiling.

Miss Stacey walked around the room and passed out the papers, with groans from some students, and quiet cheers from others. When Gilbert got his back, all his saw was an “elaborate more” on one sentence. Other than that, it was a clean paper, with a large 98% on the top.

He looked at Anne once again, but she was chatting with her head turned to Diana, so he got his things out for math class and waited.

When lunch break had finally started, he practically bounced across the room to Anne, his essay in his hand. She turned in surprise.

“Hey,” she said, looking back at Ruby.

“Thanks for your help,” he replied, showing his grade at the top. 

She showed hers. 98% as well. 

“I told you we were equally matched,” he said.

“Well, I did misspell one less word than you, so I’m only a bit in the lead.”

His brain fought for something else to say, anything. “If only it were an essay on first impressions in Pride and Prejudice. I’m sure we would both get perfect marks on that.”

Anne stood completely still for a few seconds, a great feat for her. “Uh, yes.”

Gilbert smiled, his heart beating quickly, trying not to scream as he saw the confusion become understanding in her eyes. “See you later.”

Then he tried to walk as calmly as he could out the door. He wasn’t sure if his feet ever touched the ground, it was like floating on air.


	2. 1900

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gilbert Blythe is still in love enough with Anne Shirley-Cuthbert to read way too many books, even after getting the girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daisy was named by @vintagemcnulty on Twitter and James by @Hogweasley on AO3 so give them a follow!
> 
> anyway this is pure self-indulgent fluff and im very sorry

Gilbert checked his list for the fifth time that afternoon as he walked through Toronto’s library.

It was much larger than even Charlottetown’s local bookstore, and he often found himself digging through shelf after shelf, searching for that one obscure title Anne had put in her latest letter.

“Gilbert, this is taking forever,” Daisy Hill complained, grabbing the paper from his hands and looking through the titles swiftly. “At least let me look for some of them.”

“You’ll break their spines like last time,” James Martin said. “I wouldn’t trust you either.”

“Why are we doing this, anyway?”

“Because Gilbert is in love.”

Gilbert blushed as he grabbed The Wild Irish Girl. “You say that like you’re trying to embarrass me, James.”

“Your face is red. But believe me, I know you’re not ashamed. You perform poetry about your most ‘darling Anne’ in your sleep.”

“I’m pretty sure she doesn’t go to the library once a week to take out every book you mention in passing to her,” Daisy added. “You have her wrapped around your finger.”

“It’s only because she doesn’t want to read medical texts all day,” Gilbert said. “And I wouldn’t want her to. I like reading what she reads, and she now likes talking about medicine with me, so we’re both winning in this situation.”

“Did she not like talking about being a doctor before?” James asked.

Gilbert laughed. “No. She swore I made up every word I said. She doesn’t like that I know more than her about something. I’m surprised she didn’t try and steal one of my medical textbooks and try to outsmart me with some new vocabulary one day. It’s probably because they’d bore her to tears.”

“That’s one thing we have in common,” Daisy said.

“Daisy, you’re literally becoming a doctor. You have to read those textbooks,” James replied, grabbing one on a shelf nearby for emphasis.

“I didn’t get into medical school to read. It’s not like I’m going to look up what to do when someone gets a common cold. I’ll just know it.”

“Because you read the textbooks.”

“Because I went to class.”

“Which requires the textbooks.”

Gilbert slowly backed away as they continued to bicker, grabbing books of the shelves and continuing to pile them in his arms. He grunted under the weight of War and Peace and made his way back to his friends, who were still arguing.

Daisy stopped mid-sentence to laugh. “Gilbert, I can’t even see your face. You can’t read all those books by the time the next letter arrives.”

Gilbert smiled, though he knew she couldn’t see it. “I know, but I can try. I’ve become a pretty fast reader because of Anne.”

His friends helped him carry the books out, and as always Gilbert set them on his bed and stared at all of them. Was it just him, or were Anne’s selections getting longer each time?

James walked into his room and watched as Gilbert picked up The Wild Irish Girl. “Hey.”

“Hi. I’ll talk to you in about ten hours when I’m done with this.”

“Give me a book?”

“What?” Gilbert’s head lurched up.

“Yeah. I already finished our work and it’s better than sitting around or arguing with Daisy. And when Anne visits, we’ll have something to talk about.”

Gilbert smiled at the idea of Anne coming to Toronto. He’d only been to Charlottetown once since their kiss, and he definitely was regretting not telling her how he felt when she was three feet away from his desk in the schoolhouse in Avonlea. 

“She’ll be your best friend if you read this,” he said, handing over the monster of War and Peace. James hesitated, then shrugged.

“Alright.” He began to walk out of the room, then stalled. “She’s one lucky girl, you know. Not many boys would read one book for a girl.”

Gilbert shrugged. “Even if we only talk about it for one second, it’s worth it.”

James shook his head. “I don’t understand. I just don’t understand.” But War and Peace was still stuck under his arm. Maybe, Gilbert thought, once he met Anne, he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a chatterbox come talk to me!
> 
> twitter: @rainbowsinmay  
> tumblr: @mydramaticflare

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 of them dating w this concept coming soon!


End file.
